On the way from Pesach to Shavuous, Jews the world
over count out the fifty days of Sefiras HaOmer, hopefully moving
upwards everyday towards Kabalas HaTorah, with new growth to new
heights.

This year at Ohr Somayach also finds us growing
to new heights. We are counting upwards both numerically and
qualitatively, with more talmidim in new programs and new facilities.

The numbers are, baruch Hashem, growing in all departments.
In our English-speaking section this has compelled us to break
down the Beis Medrish level to several focused components in which
former talmidim are playing important roles :

Dovid Speyer and Avrohom Connack on the Advanced
Level; Avrohom Rockmill and Aaron Brodie on the new Intermediate
Level; Shlomo Wiener, Saul Mandel and Yacov Asher Sinclair in
the one-year "Center" Program; and Nachie Brickman in
the "Derech" Program for high school graduates scheduled
to begin in the fall.

The population explosion in the Israeli Department
has forced us to rent broader facilities for it on Rechov Shmuel
Hanavi, but we are quickly running out of room there as well.
(The old "Mi Li" building is occupied by our Russian
"Ohr-Dessa" High School for the products of our highly
successful program in Odessa serving some 700 kids!)

Former talmidim are playing important educational
roles in our constantly expanding Hebrew, Russian and Spanish-speaking
departments.

This is the continual march forward at Ohr Somayach
in Jerusalem - talmidim joining the ranks of their rabbeim.

But not only in Jerusalem.

In London, the new Jewish Learning Exchange center
in Golders Green, headed by Danny Kirsch, received an important
boost for its explosive expansion of activities with the arrival
of Brian Rubenstein. Gary Gilbert is the newest addition to the
great Johannesburg team led by Larry Shain. A major dinner for
our Miami branch highlighted the great work being done in Florida
by Shmuel Kalos, Jonathan Ried and Yacov Zier.

Our Ohr Lagolah Leadership Training Program has
placed a score of graduates in rabbinic, educational and outreach
positions. Zev Kahn, who was a coordinator while in the Program,
is joining Yehoshua Karsh in outreach for the Chicago Community
Kollel, and Yisroel Koval is taking an outreach position in the
Chicago community of Buffalo Grove.

Speaking of reaching out, the Internet outreach
program led by Moshe Newman, and enjoying the talents of Reuven
Lauffer, Mordechai Becher and Reuven Subar, is setting new records
each month with its Ohrnet service. (Getting close to 600,000
"hits" a month!) The newest addition is a university-style
course in Chumash now in its second semester with plans for a
Jewish Holiday Handbook series in the fall.

These are but a few of the latest leaps and bounds
that Ohr Somayach and its alumni have taken this year. We hope
that this zman of Sefiras HaOmer is a zman of Aliyas HaTorah for
you and for all the Ohr Somayach family.

Rabbi Seth Mandel, one of the more colorful alumni
with one of the longest running relationships with Ohr Somayach,
has filled a variety of different roles actively serving Klal
Yisrael.

In 1976, after graduating from the University of
Connecticut and writing for a small daily paper for several years,
Seth found himself in Israel, taking a kibbutz ulpan and working
in a community center in Afula for six months. When spring came,
Seth packed up to head back to the States before entering the
Peace Corps in the fall. He and a friend decided to drive south
to a beach town near Eilat for a few last days in Israel.

On the way south they decided to stop in Jerusalem
for a visit to the Kotel. There Seth met none other than Rabbi
Meir Schuster, who brought them to Ohr Somayach. After meeting
Rabbi Schiller, Rabbi Weinbach and Rabbi Bulman, they did eventually
make it to the beach, but Seth soon decided to return to Ohr Somayach
and learn. He stayed for almost four months, and finally took
a flight home.

Back in America, Seth began preparing for the Peace
Corps. He met Ohr Somayach staff in the US, and through them
re-encountered Rabbi Schiller. To make a long story short, when
fall came, Seth didn't go to Africa, but back to Ohr Somayach
to learn full time.

In 1981, Seth and another O.S. alumnus started up
a magazine for a small publishing firm, called "Stay Kosher
in Israel." Seth later took over as Managing Editor, and
kept the presses rolling for two years. From there he was sent
by Ohr Somayach to help build the Jewish Learning Exchange network
back in America. Every three months in America, however, he flew
back to Israel to learn for a month, and eventually he decided
just to cut out the three month trips to America and stay in Israel.

Next, R' Mandel took a position as the Public Relations
Director for Porat Yoseph, a Sephardi Israeli yeshiva in the Old
City. During this phase of his life, he met his wife, with whom
he now has four lovely children, aged 3 to 10.

Shortly after the wedding Seth returned to Ohr Somayach
to enter the Ohr Lagolah Program, simultaneously receiving his
Smicha. These two in combination took him and his family back
to the States, where he served a 2-year term at Penn State University
as Hillel Director, and five more at the University of Maryland.

One and a half years ago, they returned to Israel.
R' Mandel raised funds for Ohr Somayach for many months, and
last September became a recruiter for the JLE programs in the
East Coast and here at Hebrew University. Often he can be seen
in the early afternoon in the Ohr Somayach Beis Medrash, a place
obviously dear to his heart, learning with boys from Hebrew University
and elsewhere. Through the years and the many positions he has
capably filled, R' Mandel has proven himself to be both a dedicated
servant of Klal Yisroel and a big fan of Ohr Somayach.